The race is on to get more electric cars on the road. President Joe Biden has made electric vehicles (EVs) a priority. By , he&#;d like half of all new vehicles sold to be zero-emission. It&#;s a response to the climate crisis. Currently, the United States is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. And more than a quarter of the country&#;s emissions come from gasoline-burning vehicles.
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But according to a survey by Pew Research Center, more than half of U.S. adults don&#;t want gasoline cars to be phased out. They say EVs are expensive and charging them is a hassle. For now, most people plan to stick with gas-powered vehicles. We asked TFK readers what they think about EVs.
COURTESY VIVIAN CHANGPrincia Zhou, 9
Chino Hills, California
In my opinion, we should all have electric cars. Our gas cars burn fossil fuels, which are limited resources. These fuels cannot be regenerated. Using them is unsustainable.
But the electricity powering EVs can be generated from renewable energy sources. These include solar and wind power. Think about it: Transportation causes 21% of global carbon-dioxide emissions. That&#;s a huge factor in climate change. Driving EVs could eliminate that. The switch needs to happen soon. Not only to protect the environment, but so we kids can have a brighter and cleaner future.
COURTESY SARA SILLERKieran Siller, 10
New York, New York
Electric vehicles pollute the planet just as much as, if not more than, gas cars. Think of when you&#;re charging an EV. That power is coming from a power plant, which burns fossil fuels and pollutes the planet. More electric cars just means more charging. We&#;d need to build more power plants.
And mining for the elements needed to build EV batteries creates a ton of pollution. If automakers produce all-electric cars, they&#;ll mine for the elements more often. The switch to EVs could destroy the planet. A lot of things are like this. It&#;s not always black-and-white. Both electric and gasoline cars hurt the planet.
COURTESY AMANDA TIGHEHenry Hut-Davis, 10
Greenwich, Connecticut
Electric cars are better for the environment. They don&#;t burn fossil fuels and release toxic fumes into the air. Some people think electric cars are pricey. But their prices are coming down. Some cost around $30,000. That&#;s cheaper than many gas-powered cars. Plus, the cost of gas can add a lot to the price of a regular car, and once you use the gas, it&#;s gone. You can&#;t recycle it the way you can a battery.
Anyway, I think we&#;re going to run out of gas at some point. This will make EVs a necessity. Finally, many EVs are smaller and easier to park. That&#;s why I think all cars of the future should be electric.
COURTESY KATHRYN BRUCATOSydney Geiger, 11
Morris Plains, New Jersey
I don&#;t think all cars should be electric. First of all, charging stations are less common than gas stations. This makes electric cars a lot less convenient for long trips. And cold weather slows the chemical reactions that make the batteries work.
Electric cars are also more expensive than regular cars. On average, a new EV costs around $11,000 more than a new gas car. And while they have no tailpipe emissions, electric cars do have an environmental cost. Their batteries are made with rare metals found at the bottom of the sea. Mining these metals is harmful to marine life.
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COURTESY WINDSOR CHARTER ACADEMY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLCallaway Kershaw, 11
Windsor, Colorado
I think we should all have electric cars. This would decrease air pollution and allow us to breathe better. Cleaner air also means there will be fewer animals dying. Think of all the species we have lost by destroying our environment.
If the world could be a better, cleaner place, it would be worth the expense of electric cars. Some electric cars are more expensive. But they need less maintenance than gas-powered cars. So the costs start to even out. Also, did you know that electric cars can travel 33 miles for about a dollar? You can&#;t say that for gas. All cars should be electric!
COURTESY TOM LEEAlison Lee, 9
Los Angeles, California
It&#;s way too early to go all-electric. True, electric cars help slow climate change. But batteries also affect the environment. Throwing them away can damage an ecosystem. And the materials needed to make batteries are scarce.
The lack of charging stations is an obstacle too. There aren&#;t enough of them. On a long-distance trip last year, my family&#;s gas-powered car got us to our destination in eight hours. It took another family longer, because they had to stop to charge their electric car. I&#;m not saying we should never go electric, just that now is not the time.
*Submissions have been edited only for length and clarity. They are not intended to reflect the views of TIME for Kids. Ages are accurate as of the time of submission.
This is our last debate of the school year. Are there questions you&#;d like to debate in the fall? suggestions to .
The Lung Association recently released "Boosting Health for Children: Benefits of Zero-Emission Transportation and Electricity." In it, we highlighted ways that climate change is impacting kids, and we crunched the numbers to find out how children&#;s health would benefit if the nation switches to zero-emission vehicles and gets all its power from clean sources. Here are the key takeaways from our latest report:
1. Kids face greater risks than adults from air pollution, including traffic pollution. This is due to several factors, including the fact that kids&#; bodies are still growing, and kids have increased exposure to air pollution compared to adults since children have a higher breathing rate and breathe more air per unit of body mass than adults. They also spend more time outside.
2. These risks start before kids are even born. Exposure to both ozone and particle pollution (both pollutants found in traffic pollution) during pregnancy is strongly associated with premature birth, low birth weight and stillbirth.
3. Breathing polluted air can harm kids&#; health in both immediate and long-term ways. A child&#;s exposure to air pollution can not only cause immediate respiratory harm like coughing, wheezing and the worsening of respiratory diseases like asthma, but it can also reduce lung growth and function and increase asthma incidence &#; that is, it can actually cause asthma. Air pollution exposure in children is also associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, IQ loss, pediatric cancers, and increased risks for adult chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease.
4. The health burden of air pollution on children isn&#;t equally shared. Lots of kids are at especially high risk: children who live in communities near pollution sources like highways and other freight hubs, children who have existing health conditions like asthma, many children of color and children from low-income communities. Communities living near pollution sources, including highways, railyards or ports, are more likely to be lower-income communities and communities of color due to decades of inequitable land use decisions and systemic racism.
5. Transportation is a leading source of greenhouse gases that cause climate change and amplify health risks further. Climate change is harming health in many ways &#; including causing more intense and frequent wildfires and floods, record-shattering heat and the spread of water-borne and vector-borne diseases like Lyme Disease.Kids are especially vulnerable to climate-related health harms and last year experienced a record number of billion-dollar extreme weather events impacting the nation.
6. Transitioning to zero-emission vehicles and electricity would result in huge health benefits for kids. Our new report is based on projected health impacts if all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission by and all new trucks sold are zero-emission by . It also projects that the nation&#;s electric grid will be powered by clean, non-combustion renewable energy by . According to the report, the transition to zero-emission transportation powered by clean non-combustion energy from to would prevent up to:
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